Rebecca Ralls

I have never been an athletic person, nor a particularly healthy person. When becoming healthier became a goal of Daniel's I realized that I very much wanted to join him on that journey. I have some specific obstacles to overcome to realize those goals, but I am loving the results so far, and am excited to see how far I can get with dedication and perseverance. This blog will help me record the Journey so that I can look back to see how far I've come.

Achievements:* Pull up:Hybrid kip/deadhang (2/27/09)* Wallball:Hit the X with the 14# ball(9/20/08)Hit 5 Consecutive with the 10# ball(9/13/08)Hitting the X on the wall with the 10# medicine ball(6/28/08)* jump rope:. . * doubleunders: any(3/29/09)* box jump:jumping onto any box instead of stepping(8/4/08)* running:. . * mile: 10:30(12/11/08 - 10:12)* pushup: 10 full ROM w/o putting my knees down to get back up(8/6/08)1 full ROM w/o putting my knees down to get back up(8/5/08)* burpees: jumping into and out of the push up position instead of stepping. 10 consecutive burpees(9/3/08)jumping into and out of the push up position instead of stepping.(8/3/08)30 - 7:58 (7/23/08)

Comments:So - Ok - I DNF'ed this workout. But I seriously considered doing only 1 round (the 47 seconds at the beginning of round 2 was me making up my mind to begin round 2) so I did ... twice as much as 1 round ... but most importantly, I did it all RX. Every swing was overhead and driven with the hips as much as possible, and every burpee was full ROM - jumping back, full ROM pushup down and up, jumping forward, and an 'enthusiastic' jump and clap at the end of every rep. Keeping good form takes for frickin' ever. At least right now it does becuase I run out of steam quickly. I really need to work on building up muscular endurance (my cardio is ok - better than my musculat endurance anyway). I'm hoping the strength program we are working will help with that. At any rate, walking the line between intensity and good form is really hard. It's very easy to tell yourself "just a couple more breaths" more often than you really need to.

Daniel told everyone, "If you run out of burpees, do one, take one deep breath, do the next one." So after about 5 burpees, when they were all gone, that's what I did, and for the most part I managed to stick to it. For the swings it was 3-5 breaths between sets of as many as I could mange before I was using my shoulders instead of my hips to get the bell up - which after the first 10 was anywhere from 2-5 - but usually about 4.

Astonishingly, my first run was actually a pretty decent time for an 800m @ BIW for me. Not a PR - but not all that far off my BIW 800m PR. My second run ... I was just happy to finish it without having to stop and walk. I had this running conversation in my head "this workout sucks, it's so hard!" no! "I love running, running is fun!" but "damn, I am tired, and wow 50 KB swings really sucks", no! "This workout is not the boss of me! I am the master of this workout - it will get done!" ... on and on back and forth. But I made it through.

When it took 36 minutes to get through two rounds, I knew that it would probably take at least another 20 minutes to get through a third round, and as long as we're working this strength program, we're supposed to be keeping our metcons to around 20 minutes or less. So, I decided (with some relief) to call it at round 2.

Other than the not finishing part (which is a little like a little pebble in my shoe - irritating but not painful) I actually feel really good about this workout due mainly to my consistent attention to getting through the exercises with a minimum of B+/A- form. I really feel like I earned the Rx at the end of those 2 rounds. (Although I know that real Rx would, of course, be all three rounds).

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Daniel Olmstead

When I turned 30, I took stock of myself and was not very impressed with what I had become physically. I resolved to lose weight and get fit, and spent the next year and a half doing just that. In that journey I've discovered Crossfit and Rockclimbing, and am now passionate about them both. This is a log of my progress.